Oh Where Oh Where has my sunshine gone?

Wow! I just arrived back to Utah this afternoon and all I can say is cold!! I thought Arizona was cold but no I will never take my 60 degree weather for granted again! I love the fact that I can normally wear a short sleeve shirt and a light jacket and be perfectly warm! I also still have green grass at home and flowers....it is so weird to look everywhere and see white! It snowed from Cedar City to Brigham and I thought I had missed the snow...I quickly learned I haven't. It is cold and wet and slick and I don't miss it at all! I am missing my sunshine and green grass right now!I am just cold and I can't get warm! My ears to my toes are cold and I just can't get warm! Oh where oh where has my sunshine gone?

No More School!

I finished my last day of school today! I am so incredibly excited and proud to have accomplished culinary school! I worked my butt off and have a 4.0 GPA to show for it. I am also the only one in my class to have one! Go Megan Go! It was great to end around the holidays...it was kinda like a Christmas present to myself! It has been a busy and stressful week! We have had tests and projects due and we were all so excited to be done that is was hard to focus! I did well on my final also...I only missed one and it was on the crazy french we had to know. And might I note that we did not take a french class in school.

We had some real jerks eat in the restaurant this week and may I just say to the general public...be compassionate of those cooking and serving your food! It is a tough job and being mean and picky makes us irritated and unwilling to help. If you have a problem be polite and courteous and it will get fixed so much quicker and happier. Everyone makes mistakes and unless you have never one you don't have a right to be so darn upset when someone else makes one! So next time your steak is undercooked, or you get the wrong dessert just take a deep breath and remember...be nice! We are trying!

Gingerbread Success!

My gingerbread party came and went! It was so much fun! Not to many people came but the few of us there were had a blast! We decorated for hours! Valerie's house was pratical and cute, Lola's truly Arizona (it has grass), Candice's unique (it was a crime scene) and mine traditional with lots of love! It was a blast! The gingerbread was tough to make and took so long! Tips for gingerbread....warm dough is easier, and make sure to cut straight and lay super straight on the cookie sheet! It is fun though! I am now officially in the Christmas mood after a day with gingerbread and Christmas music and smells! Christmas is only 12 days away!

Gingerbread Galore!

I am so excited! The advanced baking class at school is making gingerbread houses and displaying them in the restaurant. After staring at them for days I decided to make some but it would be no fun by myself so I am have a gingerbread house decorating party! I am so super excited! I have never decorated a real gingerbread house before and I am making them for everyone! I hope everything works out well! I made cute little gingerbread men for invitations and then wrapped them like candy to give to my guests. It was super easy to do and they look super cute and taste great as well!

The Christmas spirit is in full swing at school. We have gingerbread villages in the restaurant as well as we have been serving holiday sangrias and next week we are making candy cane martinis and the drink "The Grinch" whatever that entails! We are so excited for the holidays and just can't wait!

As other notes today I served in the restaurant and I spilled a coke all over some lady's arm. I felt so awful and my day was a diaster after that. It was awful. I am much better suited to the kitchen and am glad that is where I have chosen to stay! If I drop something there normally if doesn't affect anyone but me...and it for sure doesn't ever hit a customer! I miss the kitchen and am excited to get back to it!

Red Hats

Today has been an awful day. I am sitting at home on my red couch with a hundred things to do and yet I can not muster any energy to do them. I am just exhausted. I am in the front of the restaurant and have been completely bored the whole week until today. Today was a diaster. It would take to long to explain the details but the first half of the problem was I did two people's job today and it killed me. The other half of the equation is that we had the Red Hats come today. I used to like red and purple. Not anymore. Red hats are some silly old ladies that get together to visit and have fun. They also wear Red and Purple....everything including huge crazy hats! Well this year, they decided to have their Christmas party at our restaurant. They were picky, rude and noisy. Du Jour (the restaurant) is fine dining and they turned it into a diaster. It was messy and they wouldn't leave until almost an hour after school got out. We all had to wait an extra hour to leave. It was just awful and they weren't even nice and we didn't even get good tips because of their special group rate. The next time I see old ladies in red and purple with hats on....I am running the other way I fast as I can!

the Final Countdown!

I official only have less than 3 weeks left of my academic portion of school! I am so excited! I am currently helping to run the front of the house. Today was my first time serving and I was so excited because I didn't drop any trays, food, or spill anything on anyone. I may have not been the most graceful and correct server but I don't think anyone noticed. I did my very best although my left and right handed serving may have been a bit off. I even got a 40% tip today. It was from a super sweet lady and boy she was a doll. It was a good day today even though it was a bit slow.
It always amazes me though how we can take the simplest things and make them beautiful. Today our amuse bouche (palate warmer) was a take on a shrimp quesadilla. It looked nothing like a quesadilla though and it was simple and very beautiful. It had a shrimp mousse, with a goregous pico de gallo and a avacado-truffle creme. it also came with a little fried tortilla. It was amazing and everyone seemed to love them. It is terrific to be able to take something so casual and simple and dress it up and make it elegant and high-class.